I Love This Bar (29 page)

   "Kind of looks that way," Jarod said.

   "Life is a bitch. I might just go on up to the Boar's Nest tomorrow night."

   "Suit yourself. See if they'll sell it to you," she said.

   "I don't want to buy either of those places. I want this one and the pretty bartender that goes with it," Billy Bob said.

   "Keep dreamin'. Ain't nobody in the world that lucky," she told him, but she looked at Jarod.

   A wide grin split his handsome face. She could say what she wanted. Hell, she could even believe it that night, but he'd have her on his ranch if it took him five years to talk her into it.

   He was a patient man.

Rain—or the lack of it—didn't usually affect the Honky Tonk, especially on Saturday night, but the tornado warning that came with it that Saturday night kept people glued to their weather radios and television sets. A couple of truckers stopped by for a quick beer. Merle didn't wander out that night and Joe Bob stayed home so the pool tables were quiet. Daisy fed the jukebox coins a few times but she and Cathy had no dancers or drinkers. Finally, at eleven thirty, she closed the beer joint.

   Tinker picked up his black leather jacket and slipped his arms into it. "See you Monday night," he yelled across the floor.

   "Don't go, Tinker. You can stay here. We'll make you a pallet on the floor or I'll give you my couch and I'll sleep on the floor," Cathy said.

   "Girl, I'm so fast on that motorcycle I can drive between the raindrops," he teased.

   Daisy and Cathy followed him and reached the porch just as the cycle roared out of the parking lot. A streak of lightning lit him up and thunder rolled behind him. The smell of rain was sweet in the night air. Daisy leaned against a porch post and inhaled deeply.

   "Sometimes I miss the mountains. Rain always reminds me of home and the smell of the rain as it came through the mountains," she said.

   "Will he be safe?" Cathy asked.

"Who?" Daisy asked.

   "Tinker. Will he be safe? I don't like to think of runnin' this place without him."

   "I wouldn't mess with Tinker. Not even if I was lightning. I bet he could pick a lightning streak out of the sky and pitch it out into the bar ditch without getting burned," Daisy said.

   Cathy sat down in one of the rocking chairs. "Rain does smell good, don't it?"

   Dark clouds shifted from one part of the sky to the other and lightning lit up the sky down to the southwest.

   "Smells good, but the storm makes for a bummer of a night. Wonder if the other two places are doing any better than we are?" she asked.

   "Probably not. If the Tonk is empty you can bet they are too. Let's go watch an old movie and make popcorn. Can't neither one of us sleep until after two, anyway," Cathy said.

   "What've you got in mind?"

   "I brought my favorites with me."

   A smile turned up the corners of Daisy's mouth. "Are you still carrying around
Lucky Seven
?"

   Cathy nodded. "Every time I watch it I think that my lucky seven is coming someday."

   Daisy yawned. "I might fall asleep. And I have to get up early. Remember tomorrow is my cowboy date."

   "If you snore I'll pinch you," Cathy said.

   Cathy stood up and Daisy turned around, but they both stopped when a black Cadillac pulled into the parking lot.

   "What do we tell them?" Cathy said.

   "That we are closed. No use in opening back up for one or two people."

   "Well la-tee-dah," Cathy mumbled.

   The driver got out of the car and opened the back door. A man wearing a three-piece suit crawled out under the umbrella the driver popped up. They walked across the parking lot together: Mr. Chauffeur getting hit by a few drops of rain; Mr. Important staying dry. "We're closed," Daisy called out.

   "That's fine. I'm not here for a good time. I'm here on business," the man beneath the umbrella said.

   When they reached the steps the driver lowered the umbrella and shut it before joining his boss under the protection of the porch roof.

   A clap of thunder made the boss man jump several inches. "I hate storms. I'm Hayes Radner. Is the owner inside?"

   "I'm Daisy O'Dell. I'm the owner. What's on your mind?" Daisy said.

   He smiled showing off a mouthful of gorgeous white teeth. He had dark hair and eyes and a deep voice. "I'm here to buy your beer joint."

   "It's not for sale," she said.

   "Why do you want it anyway?" Cathy asked. "You don't strike me as the type to want to own or run a beer joint."

   Hayes smiled again. "I'm buying all the property in Mingus. I'm going to turn this area into a Six Flags–type amusement park."

   "The Tonk isn't part of Mingus. We are actually closer to Thurber," Daisy said.

   "My park entrance will be right here where your beer joint is. I'm willing to give you a very fair price and throw in some park stock with the deal."

   "How many other folks have you got a contract with?" Daisy asked.

   "Not any but this is my first day to throw out my bids. I'm just giving you fair warning that this place will be bought and it will be razed to the ground," Hayes said.

   "Over my dead body," Daisy told him.

   "It's just a matter of time. Two years max. My goal is to have the resort up and running in five years. Be thinkin' about it. You can make a decent profit," Hayes said.

   Lightning danced around in the sky, jumping from one place to the other like sugared up six-year-olds after a birthday party. Thunder sounded like bombs falling from the dark clouds. Rain began to fall in drops as big as silver dollars.

   Hayes motioned for the driver to take him back to the car. "It's your decision. Come on, Wayne. Let's get back to the car before we both get wet. Here's my card. Call me when you've had time to figure out a price."

   "Don't that beat all," Daisy said as they watched the Cadillac disappear into the night.

   Cathy popped her hands on her hips. "Some folks in Mingus might sell out but those who've lived there forever won't. Can't you just see Tinker selling Ruby's house or his land, wherever it is, so a big amusement park could go in? Mr. Hayes Radner's been drinkin' too much high-dollar whiskey. That'll rot your brain quick as the cheap stuff. Let's go watch our movie and wish someone wanted to be our lucky seven."

   "How many more have you got to go before you reach seven?" Daisy slipped his card into the pocket of her jeans.

   Cathy looped her arm through Daisy's. "Next one up is lucky number seven. How about you?"

   "I don't have a lucky number. I'm going to run this beer joint forever and men like Hayes Radner can drop dead if they think I'll ever give it up," Daisy said.

Daisy awoke to the sound of gravel hitting her bedroom window and Jarod's voice calling her name. At first she thought she'd been dreaming and slapped the pillow over her head and shut her eyes. But it didn't stop so she crawled out of bed and peeked out the window.

   Jarod waved and dropped the handful of gravel he had in his hand. He pointed toward the truck. She looked at the clock just as the numbers rolled to seven a.m. She padded to the door and opened it to find him leaning on the porch post. He wore dark Wranglers, shined boots, and a starched yellow button-up shirt.

   "Up and at 'em. We've got miles to burn and a full day ahead of us."

   She yawned. "This early?"

   "Cowboy date day. I'm not wasting one moment of it. How long before you can be ready to ride?"

   "Bulls, horses, or in a truck?"

   "Truck. Wear that pink thing you wore to the wedding and bring your best cowboy boots and—"

   "I know how to dress, Jarod," she said grumpily.

   "Then get with it. We should be on the road," he said.

   She stalled. "Want to tell me about the day?"

   "No, I want to start the day. Want me to come inside and help you out of that nightshirt?"

   Daisy put up her hands. "You wait right there. I'll be out in ten minutes."

   She shoved her feet into a pair of pink round-toed boots and jerked the nightshirt over her head before putting on the pink and white checked dress. She hurriedly brushed her hair and applied makeup. When she looked at the ticking clock she'd used up all ten minutes and was glad she'd packed the night before. Shorts and a T-shirt for the afternoon. Jeans and a shirt for the evening. Another pair of boots and a pair of sandals.

   When she set her bags out on the porch he raised an eyebrow. "Ten minutes and thirty seconds. You are a little late but you look so beautiful, you are forgiven."

   "I can always go back to bed if I'm too late to go with you," she said.

   "Only if I can go with you. That would be better than anything I've got planned."

   "Oh, hush and tell me, where we are going?"

   He threw her bags into the backseat and helped her inside. "Not yet. I want it to be a surprise. I will tell you it'll take five hours to get there."

   "Five hours? Is that a cowboy date?"

   "Sure is. For five hours I've got you in the cab of this truck with me and you can't get away so I get to look at you all I want and talk to you all I want. Life don't get no better than that."

   "So is this a big old circle and in five hours I'll be back at the Honky Tonk?"

   "No, ma'am. You will not," he said.

   "Then it'll be five more hours to get home?"

"That's the way I figure it."

   She moaned. "Ten hours of riding? Take me back to the Honky Tonk."

   "Can't do that. Truck don't go backwards today. Only forward."

   "Stop and I'll walk back," she said.

   Jarod shook his head slowly. "Can't do that, either. Truck don't stop 'til we get to Weatherford, which is where we'll be eating breakfast."

   "You are a—"

   He finished the sentence for her, "—a very lucky cowboy today because he's got the prettiest girl in either Erath or Palo Pinto counties in the truck with him and she don't get to go home until tomorrow."

   "Tomorrow?" She moaned again.

   "I'll have you back in time to open the Tonk tomorrow evening. That's a McElroy promise and we stand by our word."

   "But I didn't bring things for that long."

   "Lots of stores along the way. Anything you need, we'll stop and buy," he said.

   "I'm not sleeping with you tonight," she said bluntly.

   He reached for the radio knob. "I'm very sure you won't be sleeping with me tonight. Music?"

   "No, thank you, and what does that mean about not sleeping with you?"

   "You'll see later. I figured you'd listen to country music all the time but you probably like the quiet after all that noise," he said.

   "Actually, it's not quiet but the fresh air that I appreciate most."

   "You don't like all the smoke smell either?"

   "Never have, but it goes with a beer joint. Cigarettes, drinks, and country music. The three things that make up a good old country honky tonk. Throw out anyone of the three and you'll fold in six weeks. Ruby's words, not mine."

   "That's about right. How was business last night? Storm bring them in or keep them out?"

   "We shut the doors before midnight for the first time since I've been there. You ever heard of Hayes Radner?"

   "Rich entrepreneur. Lives in Dallas. Featured in money-making type magazines."

   "Right after we closed a Caddy drove up into the parking lot. His driver even held an umbrella over his head so he wouldn't get his hair or fancy suit wet. He wanted to buy the Honky Tonk. Says he's buying out the whole town of Mingus and putting in a resort like Six Flags."

   "You sellin'?"

   "Hell, no! I don't care if every boarded-up business in Mingus gives him their property for a dollar, he's not getting the Tonk. It's mine and I'm keeping it. Besides," she laughed, "just think of all the business I'll get if I'm sittin' right outside the gates of a big amusement park."

   She waited for him to express an opinion.

   He didn't.

   She waited a few more minutes and still he didn't say anything. "Well?" she finally huffed.

   "Well, what?"

   "What have you got to say about that?"

   "I think you said it all, Daisy. Hayes might have met his match. When's all this going to happen anyway?"

   "He says in five years."

   "Sounds like it's an idea right now and he's out

scouting for a place. He might find more opposition in a little town like Mingus than he realizes. Folks stay there because it's home and they'll fight for that quicker than if it was just a house."

   "Thank you," she said.

   "For what?"

   "For agreeing with me."

   Her cell phone rang and she fished it out of her purse. "Hello," she said.

   "It's me, Edith. George won't eat his chocolate pie this morning. It can't be bad. I made it last night and it's been in the refrigerator. I put a slice on a saucer and he turned up his nose. He's dyin'. I know he's dyin'," Edith yelled.

   "How's he actin'?" Daisy screamed into the phone.

   Jarod jumped and practically lost control of the truck. He quickly got it back and jerked his head around to look at Daisy who shook her head.

   "He's just sittin' in front of the refrigerator like he wants something else. Well, hot damn, I believe I figured it out. He's wantin' the last of his beer that he didn't drink last night. Poor old boy left half of it in his bowl, so I put it in the refrigerator to keep it cool. Do you reckon he'd rather have a fresh one? This one has gone flat," Edith shouted.